So there are some issues with women’s portrayal in superhero comics, yes? From more sexy than logical costumes to being completely underused/undervalued, female characters often leave something to be desired. To celebrate the anniversary of (the amazing) Gail Simone’s “Women in Refrigerators” – the idea that female comic book characters were often killed or depowered for the sole intent of moving the male plot line along, the Women Write About Comics blog invited people to discuss their ideas about fridging. The editors of the blog rounded up some of their favorite ones and they are a really interesting read! Sue from dcwomenkickingass and and Three Chicks Read Comics Podcast wrote a wonderful post and noted that it’s easy to pinpoint those moments that make you uncomfortable but sometimes harder to find ones that make you say “YES!” In efforts to find and collect those good moments, she created a new blog This! Moments for Women!, a tumblr with mainly reader suggestions of anything from just examples of well rounded characters to women kicking ass, of course. All of these blogs and podcasts are rad examples of keeping the discussion of women in comics and woman AND comics alive and well. And not in a refrigerator.

Just as the title says! Our good buds at Not Your Mother’s Meatloaf are extending their submission deadline until next month!

“We are extending the deadline for Issue #6 to FEBRUARY 1st, 2012!

what better new year’s resolution than to submit that comic you’ve been dreamily drawing to Not Your Mother’s Meatloaf?

Submit a comic to Issue #6 of Not Your Mother’s Meatloaf
Sex Education Comic Book Project!

sexedcomicproject.blogspot.com is where you can find guidelines, theme info, updates, and downloadable comics of issues 1-5.

email scanned comics to us at notyourmothersmeatloaf@gmail.com and let us know if you need to snail mail it to us, we will get you an address. If you don’t have access to a copy machine we can scan your originall to you! if your name doesn’t appear on the comic itself, it will be anonymous!”

Introducing For the Birds Book Club, BirdWords. Over the summer (and probably continuing afterwards) we are going to choose a title of awesome feminist fiction to read and ask you to read it as well! We’ll post a blog post with our thoughts and invite you to join in the conversation via email, blog comments, and tweets!

This month’s book is Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea – a prequel of sorts to Jane Eyrethrough the eyes of Antoinette Cosway, known as the tragic Bertha Mason in Bronte’s iconic work. Rhys humanizes a classic hurdle and creates a back story and reasons for her “madness”. It’s also an interesting look at Caribbean culture, colonialism, race, and class.

So if you’d like to join us, please take the month to read it! It’s pretty short and we’ll post a blog at the end of the month. Feel free to email us, tweet, or facebook any questions or comments!